


What Comes Before Paper

by lightsaroundyourvanity



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:18:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2525390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightsaroundyourvanity/pseuds/lightsaroundyourvanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Perry and LaFontaine discover supernatural shenanigans happening at another Silas dorm, Laura and Carmilla must go undercover as a couple to get to the bottom of things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"So how long are you gonna be away for?"

Laura and Danny are sitting across from one another at a table in the cafeteria. They're sharing a piece of cherry pie, which sits on the table between them. Laura stares determinedly at her fork spearing a fat cherry as she asks her question. She doesn't want Danny to see the disappointment on her face. Or maybe she does? Laura isn't sure. She feels so uncertain with Danny these days. It's clear that they both like each other, but every time one of them tries to progress beyond that.... it's like they hit a wall, and Laura isn't sure why. 

"Tomorrow," Danny says, cutting in through Laura's thoughts. "I'll only be gone a couple days," she adds. "These summer society meet ups are really straightforward. I wouldn't even be going if the other girl hadn't gotten sick."

"I know," says Laura. She eats her bite of pie, chews it carefully, and swallows. "I'll just... miss you, I guess." Laura stops looking at the pie and flicks her glance up to Danny's as she says this, wanting to gauge the other girl's reaction.

Danny's face softens. "I'll miss you too," she admits. "But it's only a couple days. Just... stay out of trouble until then, okay? And maybe steer clear of Carmilla if you can."

Instantly, Laura's mood sours. She doesn't like being coddled or ordered around, and she especially doesn't like when it comes from Danny, who she knows she's talked to about this. "She's my _roommate,"_ Laura says. "It's not like I can avoid the other half of my bedroom."

"I know." Danny looks faintly embarrassed. "But can't you just try? For me? I don't trust her."

"Well I do," Laura snaps. She says it to be contrary, but as soon as the words escape her lips, she also knows its true.

Danny sighs. She puts down her fork, and shoves the paper plate of pie towards Laura. "If you say so," she says, but she doesn't sound like she believes it. Danny looks as though she might have more to say, but instead, she just shakes her head. "I'll call you when I get back, okay?"

Laura pokes at the pie with her fork and smiles slightly. "Yeah. Sure."

Laura sighs as Danny walks away. This was _so_ not how she had imagined her afternoon with Danny would go. Laura had thought they'd eat pie, giggle over last Wednesday's lecture, and that maybe, _maybe,_ Danny would finally freaking ask her out already. Instead, Danny had left town, and left the room with the sour note of an unspoken argument.

Truthfully, things have been tense with Danny for awhile. Laura still likes her a lot, but Danny's drive to always be the hero (admittedly paired with Laura's tendency to get chucked into perilous situations) have undeniably put a wedge in their budding relationship. Add to that Danny's intense dislike of Carmilla, which only grew as Laura warmed up to the broody vamp, and tiny explosions had been peppering their interactions for days now.

Maybe it's for the best that she's going out of town, Laura thinks glumly. Maybe it will give us both a chance to clear our heads.

Her cell trills, and Laura digs it out of her pocket and flips it open. She ignores the snicker from a nearby table at the sight of her archaic phone. She knows it's embarrassing. But what's she supposed to do? There's no way her dad will pony up for a new one. Not in this decade, anyway.

Laura's phone is lit up with one text message. It's from LaFontaine, and reads: _Come back to dorm. Urgent!!!_

Laura shuts her phone and shoves it away. She's already on her feet and gathering her things. Whatever LaFontaine categorizes as an emergency, she'd like to know sooner rather than later-- like, y'know, when flying monkeys have attacked the school play or something. Laura swings her messenger bag over her shoulder, and trots out of the caf.

 

 

Laura enters her room at a dash and finds LaFontaine nowhere in sight.The only other person there is Carmilla, sitting cross legged on Laura's bed, reading. She's still wearing her shoes. Laura wrinkles her nose.

"If you have to use my bed all the time, could you at least take off your shoes?" Laura asks pointedly. "I don't need graveyard dust or whatever all over my sheets."

Carmilla looks up from her book slowly. "Like you'd notice amidst all the cookie crumbs," she says, in a bored voice.

"Those are _my_ crumbs, to be distributed through _my_ sheets as I see fit!" Laura can hear herself getting shrill. What was she saying before, something about warming up to the broody vamp? _So_ not the case right now.

Carmilla rolls her eyes, but swings her legs over the edge of Laura's bed and stands up. "Whatever," she says. "What are you even doing back? I thought you had a date with Brienne of Tarth."

"It wasn't a date," Laura replies automatically. "It was-- actually, you know what? It's really none of your business. Have you seen LaFontaine?"

"Did you check their room?" Carmilla asks dryly. She flops backwards onto her own bed and opens her book again.

"No," says Laura. "They asked me to--"

"There you are." LaFontaine interrupts Laura midsentence when they enter the room. Perry follows close behind, a nervous expression on her face, her red curls piled on top of her head.

"There I am?" Laura wonders aloud. "There you are! I thought you had to meet me here. Urgently."

"I do. I just didn't want to wait with--" LaFontaine's gaze skitters to Carmilla, and they stop speaking abruptly.

Carmilla notices. "Don't mind me," she drawls. "I'll hit the road so you girls can get back to your super secret society meeting."

She starts to get up, and Perry elbows LaFontaine in the side. LaFontaine clears their throat. "Uh, we were actually hoping you could stay," they say. "I mean, if you don't have any bloodlust to tend to or someth-- _oof_!" LaFontaine is cut off when Perry elbows them again, clearly with more force this time.

Carmilla raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. She sits back down on her bed.

Laura sits opposite Carmilla, on her own bed. "So what's up?" she asks.

" _Major_ case of the creepy crawlies in one of the other dorms," LaFontaine replies.

"Sus-- _LaFontaine,"_ Perry corrects herself quickly. "Cut it out. Things are weird enough without tossing in paranormal histrionics." She pauses. "Not weird. Tense. Things are tense."

"Aw, come on, Perry," LaFontaine protests. "Even you gotta admit that there's something very bogus happening this time. There are half a dozen witnesses!"

"It's someone playing a prank," says Perry, her voice pitched high. "Or an infestation, or... or..."

"Um, hello?" Laura cuts in. "Is there a loop that I can be brought into any time soon?"

Perry and LaFontaine both look at Laura. Across the room, Carmilla stares into space and looks bored.

"Right," LaFontaine says sheepishly. "Sorry. You know Davies Hall?"

Laura nods. It's another dorm, a little off campus, and where housing for married and long term couples is provided.

"Welp," LaFontaine continues, "It's got a teensy bit of a monster problem."

"It's not a _monster_ problem," Perry says stiffly. She looks at Laura. "But there have been some disturbances. Couples collapsing from exhaustion, even when they were perfectly healthy the night before. People complaining of strange nightmares--"

Laura and Carmilla exchange a fast, worried look at the mention of nightmares.

Perry either doesn't notice, or ignores them. She continues, "--and waking up with sores on their legs that they can't explain. Obviously, it sounds like an infection--"

"But disease control already swept the dorms, and they're clean," LaFontaine puts in.

"Hold up," Laura says. "We have a team for disease control here? How much money does Silas even have?"

Perry, LaFontaine, and Carmilla all look uncomfortable. Nobody answers Laura.

Laura sighs, and throws her hands in the air. "Whatever. Never mind. What does this have to do with me? Or--" she glances quickly at Carmilla, "--with _us?_ "

"Getting to that," says LaFontaine. Perry makes an impatient noise, and LaFontaine waves their hands, like they're giving Perry the floor.

Perry smiles briefly at LaFontaine before carrying forward. "If it's not an infection, it must be manufactured," she says. "We think that somebody--"

"--or some _thing--"_ LaFontaine interrupts.

Perry glares at her. "--that _somebody_ must be messing around with people. Drugging them. Planting stuff in their room. Even making a racket to keep everyone up all night, that could explain the exhaustion and the nightmares--"

"We want Vampirella to go undercover and figure out what the frak is going on," LaFontaine bursts out. Perry glares at her again, lips pursed tightly.

Carmilla sits up straighter. " _Excuse_ me?"

Perry looks nervously towards Carmilla. "Nobody from administration will check it out," she says, her voice firmer than her expression. "You know how they are about... oddities. I tried to explain that there must be a rational explanation, but they wouldn't listen. And people are getting hurt."

"So you want me to what?" Carmilla asks. "Pull out my Luna Pen and pretend to be a new transfer? I don't think so."

"Not just you," says Perry. "Laura, too."

"What?" Laura squeaks.

"Only serious couple are allowed to stay in the residence," Perry explains. "And they already _know_ me and LaFontaine. Laura, you just started at Silas, and Carmilla, I don't think anybody knows who you are. We could sneak you guys in."

"Plus, if it _is_ something gnarly, we figured an extra dose of vampire strength wouldn't hurt," LaFontaine adds.

" _Anyway,_ " says Perry, ignoring LaFontaine's use of the V-word, "It will only be for a couple days, and we figured, you two are roommates already anyway..."

"Damn, red." Carmilla looks at Perry with new respect. "I didn't think you'd be about breaking the rules."

Perry sniffs. "Sometimes you have to break rules to straighten them out," she says, holding her head high. LaFontaine is watching her with something resembling adoration. Perry catches their eye, and they have the kind of short, silent conversation that only lifelong best friends can have, that ends when Perry ducks her head and smiles.

"So will you do it?" LaFontaine asks.

"I have to pretend I'm married to Laura?" Carmilla asks. She sounds intrigued. 

"Won't that be weird?" asks Laura. "It sounds totally weird."

"Not _married,_ just... serious," says Perry. "You won't have to do anything weird. Just act... together enough that you don't raise the suspicions of anybody in the building."

"Of course, if you're worried about Danny..." LaFontaine says suggestively.

"I'm not," Laura says quickly. She bites back a wince. Did that sound totally defensive? She tries to sound casual when she adds, "Sure. Fine. Yeah. I'm in. It's just for a few days, right?"

"Right." LaFontaine and Perry speak in unison.

"Don't sound too thrilled, princess," says Carmilla. She sounds annoyed, although Laura can't fathom why. Probably, Laura thinks, she's preemptively mourning the opportunity to eat her food and trash her stuff for a whole weekend straight. She wonders if Carmilla will even agree to this idea. She can't imagine her doing this out of the goodness of her heart or whatever. I mean, her heart wasn't even beating. How many altruistic impulses could it really be sending out?

So Carmilla surprises Laura when she says, "Okay, I'll do it."

Perry breathes a huge, noisy sigh of relief, and Laura looks towards both her and LaFontaine. Perry's face is an open book, gratitude that Laura and Carmilla have agreed, mingled with nerves (undoubtedly about screwing with the rules.) 

LaFontaine... LaFontaine puzzles Laura. They're watching Carmilla, with the look of somebody who has just worked out something that they have been wondering about for a very long time. Laura almost opens her mouth to ask what's up, but refrains. A prickle on the back of her neck tells her that whatever LaFontaine's revelation, it is not for her to hear.

"That is so great," Perry says. "I know this is a lot to ask, but-- thank you so much. Really. I don't know how to thank you enough." 

"You can start by leaving our room," says Carmilla, all charm as usual.

Perry is nonplussed. "I'll bring some paperwork and stuff tomorrow, and we can move you guys in. Er... late." she squints at Carmilla. "I know you have that... sleep... thing..."

As Perry trails off, fighting for the words to rationally define vampirism, LaFontaine rolls their eyes fondly and tugs Perry by the arm. "We'll see you guys tomorrow," they say.

The door shuts behind them, leaving Carmilla and Laura alone. Laura glances towards Carmilla, and finds that Carmilla is already watching her. Their eyes meet and hold for a long, endless moment as Laura tries to process what just went down.

"So," Carmilla says finally, breaking the silence. "Tomorrow, huh?" She grins. "Ready for our honeymoon, creampuff?"

Laura groans and throws her pillow at Carmilla, who easily ducks it, but tucks the pillow behind her, and Laura mentally curses herself, wondering how long it will be before she will get the pillow back.

And all this before they were even faux common-law.

What had she gotten herself into?!

 


	2. Chapter 2

It's late afternoon when Perry comes to collect Carmilla and Laura and walk them to Davies Hall. She walks into the room unannounced, LaFontaine at her heels.

"Are you guys ready?" Perry asks. She's in leadership-training-session mode now, a little too bubbly to mask her nerves. Laura thinks that she's missing a clipboard, and maybe a visor and a pencil over one ear. Like Kristy Thomas at a particularly intense meeting of the Baby-Sitters Club. 

Laura's thoughts are wandering towards a half baked sorting of her friends to their Baby-Sitter Club counterparts when Carmilla shrugs and stands up, walks over to the door, her thumbs hooked through the belt loops of her ratty black cutoffs, and Perry makes a noise of disgust.

"Where's your stuff, Carmilla?" she asks sharply.

Carmilla shrugs. "We won't be there long, right? I'll come back here if I need something."

"Oh, no. No no no. We need you to at least try to maintain the illusion that you two are legitimately moving in. Pack a bag, or something."

Carmilla makes a face, and glances towards Laura. Laura is sitting on the edge of her bed with a neatly packed duffel bag beside her. She is feeling extremely satisfied with herself, since Carmilla had blown her off when she had suggested Perry might react this way earlier.

Carmilla looks briefly thoughtful, like she's considering whether it would be worth the effort to argue. Instead, she sighs. "Whatever," she mutters, and starts throwing scraps of fabric from the floor haphazardly into a bag.

It's a short walk to Davies Hall. LaFontaine keeps up a running commentary as they walk, describing their bio lab from earlier that day. They're in the middle of describing a particularly gruesome experiment (Perry is starting to look green, but Carmilla looks entertained) when Perry gestures for everyone to stop. They're in front of another residence building. There's a plaque that reads "DAVIES HALL" planted out front, behind a neat strip of marigolds, but other than that, it looks a lot more cinderblock than Hogwarts, and Carmilla and Laura exchange a dubious look.

"Wow, they really spare no expense for the co-eds in love," Carmilla says dryly.

Perry shrugs. "It's nicer inside," she says, but from her expression, Laura wonders how true that really is.

The gang troops inside and it turns out that Perry is right, after a fashion. The res interior is a half-step up from cinderblock, but the carpets are dingy and moth-eaten, and the fluorescent lighting buzzes and flickers.

"Oh yeah, this is much better," Carmilla says, and Laura shushes her.

"I'm just saying, maybe we should rethink this whole idea," Carmilla mutters to Laura under her breath. "We could get a pizza. You mortal-types like pizza, right? I mean really, who cares if a few newlyweds are bitching about bad dreams anyway?

"You know we all can hear you, right?" asks LaFontaine. "We're standing like, a foot away from each other."

Carmilla opens her mouth to reply, but Laura intercedes. "I care," she says firmly. "And you care, too, or you wouldn't have said yes to this."

Carmilla doesn't have anything to say to that. She shrugs. "Over the threshold we go, then," she says. She looks at Laura sidelong. "You want me to carry you?"

The implications, and the sly, impish look on Carmilla's face send an unexpected ripple through Laura, shocking and warm and (to her surprise and slight chagrin) not unwelcome. "I'm fine," she says quickly, and hopes nobody notices the higher pitch of her tone.

Carmilla smirks. Perry stops at a door and unlocks it, her heavy key ring jangling as it fidget with the lock. "Sorry," she mutters. "It's a little sticky."

Carmilla casts another dubious look towards Laura. Laura wants to ask her why she even cares, since it's not like any mundane break-and-enter is going to cause a vampire to break a sweat. She doesn't, because she doesn't want to exasperate Perry any further.

Perry shoves the door open with a tiny, breathy grunt, and steps inside. LaFontaine, Carmilla, and Laura troop in after her.

"Well. It's no Fairmont Chateau," LaFontaine comments, hands on their hips as they survey the room.

They're not wrong. The couples suite looks a lot like Carmilla and Laura's dorm room, only... dingier. The lights burn a little more jarringly, there's a rust coloured stain in a corner near the ceiling, and the floor is layered with a tacky sort of linoleum instead of carpet.

The other big difference is that there's only one bed, a low double that dips in the middle. Carmilla wastes no time stomping into the room and throwing her duffel onto the bed. She unzips it, and yanks out Laura's yellow pillow, which she throws to the head on the bed. It settles there, a cheerful swatch amidst the greying cotton sheets, and Carmilla looks over her shoulder, casual.

Laura can feel her mouth open in surprised response. "When did you even swipe that?" She asks, knowing she sounds more impressed than she ought. Vampire speed, vampire stealth... but damn, Laura hadn't even noticed. And she'd made a point of noticing the path of her yellow pillow ever since Carmilla had adopted it as a pet.

Carmilla shrugs. "While you weren't looking, cutie," she says. It's not sarcasm, which Laura thinks is admittedly an improvement.

"Anyway," Perry says loudly, and Laura jumps. "Just, uh. Settle in. Take a look around. I'll check in on you guys in the morning? And hopefully things will sort themselves out soon!"

Perry leaves quickly after this, and LaFontaine follows. Carmilla turns to Laura. "Home sweet home, huh?" she says, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess so," Laura replies. She walks further into the room and sits tentatively on the edge of the bed. It's not so bad, she thinks. Comfy, even. "So what do we do now?" she asks.

Carmilla sits down next to Laura and tucks one foot underneath herself. "Dunno. You're the gumshoe here, remember?"

"You're the one who is like, four hundred years old," Laura retorts. "You have centuries of espionage training on me. Mata Hari was probably like your weekend tutor or something."

"Cookie, I lived in a box buried underground when Mata Hari was at large," Carmilla points out. "I was concerned less with spying and more with my slow dissolution via emaciation."

Laura feels herself blush, and she bites back a quip about how Carmilla probably got plenty of practice in her pre-tomb days, because she thinks it feels rude. Carmilla gets a hollowed, sad expression when she talks about her subterranean exile that makes Laura feel awful. She can't imagine what it might have been like, to waste generations trapped in a coffin, but she knows it haunts Carmilla, so she tries not to bring it up.

Carmilla is staring at the floor now, fingers drumming impatiently against the bedspread. Laura can feel a kinetic blur in the air between them, and she glances at the bed. Her fingertips are so close to Carmilla's that they almost touch. Laura snatches her hand back quickly, and runs it through her hair self-consciously.

"I guess we could go around, knock on some doors?" says Laura. Her voice sounds higher than normal. "Say we're introducing ourselves to the building, but actually see if we can dig up any dirt instead?"

"Good one, Nancy Drew."

 Laura's head shoots up. She's expecting sarcasm because of the nickname, but when she looks at Carmilla, the other girl's face is open, sincere. Laura hesitates, and then smiles, and Carmilla smiles back, and it takes a full seven seconds before Laura realizes that they are staring at each other beaming like idiots and she clears her throat and jumps to her feet. She sees Carmilla watching her, thoughtful and unreadable.

"Shall we?" asks Laura. She offers her hand to Carmilla, even though she surely doesn't need the help. Carmilla takes her hand anyway, and Laura tugs her to her feet. Carmilla's hand feels warm and solid in her own, the plush apple of Carmilla's palm pressing against Laura's. When Laura lets go and Carmilla drops her hands to her side, Laura tastes a metallic tang of loss on her tongue.

"Lets," Carmilla says agreeably.

 

 

It's dark when they come back. Laura is tired. But she's pleased, too, because she feels like they've made some headway in their investigation. They'd met three other couples in their hallway, actually stayed and had a drink with one, and learned quite a bit more about what the disturbances were. Weird nightmares, check. Exhaustion, check. Unidentified sores on girl's legs, check. All had also mentioned hearing general bumps in the night, although they'd done so awkwardly, fidgeting with their hair, looking at the floor, trailing off as though they weren't sure of what they'd actually heard. One girl had mentioned waking up in the middle of the night, paralyzed like something was pinning her down, but there had been nobody in the room except herself and her partner beside her.

"Ally and Ariel seemed nice," says Laura, stifling a yawn. They'd been the couple she and Carmilla had stayed to have a drink with.

Carmilla looks at Laura sidelong. "They were fishy. Everyone we talked to stank of fish."

"Well that's not very nice," Laura retorts. "I think the fish smell comes with the building, anyway."

"Metaphorical fish," Carmilla says. "The fish of suspicion."

"You're being paranoid," says Laura. "They were all really nice!" she tilts her head to one side. "Oh, right, I forgot. You don't know what nice looks like."

"We're supposed to be investigating for  _your_ friends," Carmilla points out. "I'm not being paranoid. I'm being... investigatory or whatever."

She has a point. Laura almost says as much, but she finds herself smothering another yawn instead, gritted teeth doing little to dispel her sleepiness. Carmilla raises an eyebrow. "Past your bedtime, sweetheart?"

It is  _totally_ past her bedtime, but the way Carmilla throws it out like a challenge makes Laura want to argue like a little kid.  _But dad, I'm nine years old, I can stay up as late as I want!_ Laura makes a face. "I'm fine."

Carmilla smirks. "Whatever you say," she says. She pauses a beat and then adds. "Well,  _I'm_ tired. I'm gonna crash."

Relief floods Laura, because she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold up her stubborn front. It quickly ebbs when her gaze skitters to the lone bed. She looks at Carmilla, and then quickly at the floor. "Um."

"Relax," Carmilla says, divining her hesitance. "I can sleep on the floor. Done it before, remember?"

Slowly, very slowly, Laura looks up, carefully running her next words through her head. "You don't have to," she says finally. "We can, um. We can share."

If Laura has smacked Carmilla over the head with a frying pan, she doubts she could have looked more stunned. Carmilla shakes off the expression quickly, but a tiny smile still plays over her lips. "Seriously?"

Laura shrugs self-consciously. "Sure. Just keep your cold feet away from me."

 "I don't have cold feet."

Laura snorts. "You're dead, Carm. All of your extremities are cold."

Carmilla has nothing to say against that.

It's shortly afterwards, when they're climbing into bed together, that Laura feels the first prick of nerves. Despite her joking, Carmilla's skin isn't cold. Maybe it's not as warm as Laura's, but it's warm enough for Laura to feel her presence when they wriggle under the covers, less than a foot away. Carmilla quickly mumbles "G'night," and rolls onto her side, but Laura stares at the ceiling, tension rendering her wide awake.

Carmilla smells good, like copper and roses and musk. It's kind of driving her crazy, and for a fleeting second Laura wonders what would happen if she rolled over and curled herself around Carmilla, fitted their bodies together and buried her face in Carmilla's dark hair. She feels a thrill at the idea that makes her clench her knees together, and she feels her face flush hot. Laura sneaks a look at Carmilla. Her shoulders rise and fall steadily, even though Laura thinks there's no way she could have fallen asleep that quickly.

Laura stares at the ceiling again. This was a huge mistake, she realizes, and it's not because she doesn't want to share Carmilla's bed-- quite the opposite. She rolls onto her side, her back to Carmilla's, and draws her knees to her chest. It doesn't help. Laura swears she can feel the bumps of Carmilla's spine, inches away from her own, and she wonders how close their backs are to touching. She'd scoot to the edge of the bed, but it's a small double: there's nowhere for her to scoot. She edges closer to it anyway, putting heavy distance between them. It doesn't help.

Laura is about to make some dumb excuse ( _hey, you know what? The floor looks kind of comfy after all!)_ when a loud bang rattles the room, and Carmilla and Laura both sit up fast, Laura flailing ungainly limbs, Carmilla rapid and alert. They exchange a wild, hurried glance and sit motionless, tense and listening in the dark. Were they about to strike gold on their first night?

After a long, long moment, Laura lets out a breath, and Carmilla's shoulders relax.

"Must just be old pipes or something," Carmilla says.

"I guess so," Laura replies. But she's nervous, because it hadn't _sounded_ like old pipes, and weren't the girls who tried to make rational excuses the ones who always died first in horror movies?

"Maybe we should take a look around, though," Laura adds, and then winces, because what an even more horror-damsel-ey thing to say. What's she going to suggest next, that they split up to cover more ground?!

Carmilla looks skeptical. "I think we'll be fine." she looks up at Laura through her lashes. "You nervous, creampuff?"

"No, I--" Laura pauses. Why lie? They're staying overnight in a freaking haunted honeymoon suite. "Yeah," she admits. "I guess I am."

 What happens next has Laura half convinced she's dreaming, because the next thing she knows, Carmilla is sliding up next to her, looping her arm over Laura's shoulders and tucking her chin into the curve of Laura's neck. "Relax," says Carmilla. Her breath tickles Laura's skin. "I'll protect you."

And then Carmilla pulls Laura onto her side and lets her arm fall from Laura's shoulder's to her waist. For a long time Laura stares at the wall, wide-eyed, memorizing the feel of Carmilla's chest pressed against her back, and then she covers Carmilla's hand with her own and lets her eyes drift shut. They fall asleep together, their limbs entwined, long bronze strands of Laura's hair twisting with Carmilla's dark ones. 

They wake up the next morning to a scream from the other end of the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait, kittens <3 it's been kind of a rough month.

**Author's Note:**

> fake dating au! fake dating au! fake dating au! fake dating au!
> 
> i am really excited to be writing this, and i hope you all will like it!


End file.
